CIS Basketball Division News

Canada West’s new basketball divisions certainly appear to be tiered, but Ken Olynyk said it’s what the conference’s members voted for.

Olynyk, director of athletics and recreation for the TRU WolfPack, was at the CIS annual meetings in Toronto this week. At Thursday’s proceedings, Canada West, in which the WolfPack plays, OK’d a motion to create two divisions in the conference.

The WolfPack will be in a six-team division with the UBC-Okanagan Heat, UNBC Timberwolves, Fraser Valley Cascades, Mount Royal Cougars and Grant MacEwan Griffins. All of these programs are relatively new to Canada West, with the WolfPack, which has played in the conference since 2005-06, the oldest member.

The other division features 11 teams – and all of the conference’s stronger teams are in it. The UBC Thunderbirds, Victoria Vikings, Alberta Golden Bears and Calgary Dinos, to name a few, are big schools with prestige and history behind them.

On the surface, it appears as though the newer programs, all of which recently became universities and made the jump to Canada West from college divisions, have been unofficially relegated to a lower tier.“Everyone had the ability to suggest different formats into the type of schedule they wanted,” Olynyk said Friday. “There were guidelines laid out – we had to keep academics in mind, travel in mind, traditional rivalries . . .“There were four choices . . . this one received the most votes.”The WolfPack, as a full member of Canada West, got a vote. And although Olynyk said he wasn’t displeased, TRU can’t be happy to be relegated to what amounts to a lower tier, nor should the Cascades be.UFV, located in Abbotsford, won’t play regular-season games against the Trinity Western Spartans, whose campus is located 21 kilometres away in Langley. Meanwhile, Victoria will play both Winnipeg schools – the U of Winnipeg Wesmen and the Manitoba Bisons – whose campuses are some 2,300km away.Also, the Cascades have had as much success on the basketball courts as almost anyone lately, and are legitimate playoff teams. Fraser Valley’s men finished fourth at the CIS championship in 2012, while its women made the CIS championship in March and are considered strong contenders in 2013-14.So if the new divisions aren’t tiers, why wouldn’t teams have been divided geographically, perhaps making a seven-team B.C. Division?“We could have done that, but some schools were opposed to making it purely geographical,” Olynyk said. “We wanted to create a schedule that makes everyone happy.”When the WolfPack joined Canada West in 2005-06, it was the 12th basketball-playing member. Since TRU’s inclusion, the conference has added five teams, including the Heat in 2010-11, the Cougars and Timberwolves in 2011-12, and the Griffins for next season.But now Canada West is paying for opening its doors to so many teams.With all of these new squads, and 17 overall, there was no way the conference could create a schedule in which all the teams played one another. If nothing else, this new format will make scheduling much easier.Each team will play 20 regular-season games. Teams in TRU’s division will play each other four times, while the other division’s 11 teams will play each other two times apiece.With all of these new squads, and 17 overall, there was no way the conference could create a schedule in which all the teams played one another. If nothing else, this new format will make scheduling much easier.Each team will play 20 regular-season games. Teams in TRU’s division will play each other four times, while the other division’s 11 teams will play each other two times apiece.The playoff structure still has to be hashed out, and Olynyk said that will happen at the Canada West semi-annual meeting in February.